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Porsche 936 Jules a lemon ? or am I unlucky ?

03-18-2010, 01:55 PM

Hi all.

I have just bought a Porsche 936 Jules by Spirit, a real beauty to my eyes, but I must say that I am diasppointed by the workmanship (or rather the lack of it), but then again I might just be the unlucky guy.

Before breaking the factory seal of the box, I admired the beauty and then noticed that the right hand mirror was broken off but still lay in the box. Opening the box gently in order not to loose the miror, I turned the car upside down and at once noticed, that the braids were of unequal width.

The 3 screws holding the chassis and bodywork together were in no way tightened and neither was I able to tighten them. The plastic in the recievers were simply pulled out.

These problems put aside, I decided to race the car on my Carrera circuit, and she was really fast for about 10 laps. Then she slowed down almost to a crawl, so I took her up for further inspection. The motor was really hot.
Taking the bodywork off, I noticed that the wires from the braids to the motor are of uequal lenght, one being so short, that it seriously impels the movement of the guide, the other being so long, that it was very hard to coil it inside the the bodywork (but careful attention with small pieces of duct tape cured this problem). Also a gentle lubrication of the rear axel was done.

Now, running the chassis without the bodywork on showed that I was back in business, but I am in no way sure of having cured the problem of the spontaneous slowing, so my question in this forum of hard boiled slot racers is:
Am I just the unlucky guy having bought the lemon, or do Spirit have a problem of quality despite their claim of ISO 9001 quality standard ?

to SCI! Sounds like you have been most unlucky with that car, but hopefully the errors will prove fixable; I've moved your Post over here to the Spirit Forum, as there's a better chance of useful feedback here.

Comment

i recently purchased 4 spirit puegeots, and they were all great runners and very evenly matched right out of the box. i literally had to do nothing to them, although i loosened the pods a bit. sounds like you just got unlucky with yours. not sure where you can go for warranty help.

where did you buy the car? are you sure it was really new? i seem to recall that all of my spirits came with a sealed thick clear plastic bag around the box (no shrink wrap). with problems like you are having, it almost sounds like someone messed it up and then tried to pass it off as a new car.

Comment

I've had issues with Spirit Porsches I bought in the past so your story is not all that surprising. I've had issues with improper assembly, warped chassis, off center wheels, bent axles, too-short guide wires, fingerprints in the clear coat, tires rubbing. Check to ensure that your tires do not rub the body anywhere if you plan on keeping the car as this may cause the motor to overheat. Perhaps your retailer can offer some assistance?

I have to say though that I bought a Spirit BMW 635 and it is an awesome car on the track non-mag so I'm not sure what the deal is with the iffy quality control? The more recent product seems to be much better in terms of quality.

Comment

I've found them to be very hit-and-miss. Usually when they miss, the car is pretty frustrating -- but goes like crazy once it's sorted out. We've seen some pretty bad BMW 2002's turn into lightning-quick giant killers around here, and they make a few models (like the 406 Silhouette) that are consistently good.

The best way I can describe it is that the cars are good enough (once sorted out) that I'm still a fan, in spite of the occasional problems.

That said, my Jules car is kind of a nightmare, but I haven't really spent any time trying to sort it out yet.

Comment

I bought it on an auction on EBAY from a firm in UK at a very reasonable price, and as the box was taped fixed with tape bearing the logo "Spirit", I have no reason to believe,that it is not bright new. Also the clear plastic support inside the box was in place, and I suspect this accounts for the broken off mirror (if you are in a hurry to get the car packed and it is not your own anyway ....)

As to the rearwheels rubbing on the bodywork, this is not the case. I notice the the wheels can do with a "truing", but I did not dare do it yesterday - the motor being very hot. And yes - it runs very fast on my track.

I have mailed my observations to Spirit, but I suspect that this is all that will happen.

Now, I have also bought their Ferrari 512 and am waiting for it to show up - this might give an indication of the size of the problem (or maybe still I am just the guy with all the luck)

Comment

The 936 I bought was also pretty much a basket case as well. To start off with, the chassis was warped rather badly and one of the chassis screws was stripped out. Then two of the wheels had cracked hubs. One fell off the first lap and after fixing that one, the other departed the axle on the very next attempt at a lap. BTW, this was after I'd pulled the magnet.

As on Fly cars that do this, the running gear was replaced with new axles, Slot.it spur gear and BWA wheels/inserts.

The car is now a great runner, but frankly, it, as well as other Spirit cars I've bought, have pretty well soured me on this company.

Comment

My Ferrari 512 (Le Mans version with Camel logos) has now arrived, and it is something else !
To begin with, the chassis makes a good platform, the motor wires are in no way short (rather the opposit, but the again - duct tape might solve the problem).

Still it seems to me from the reactions on the Porsche 936 Long Tail version, that it is plagued by a lot of troubles. Do the same problems occur with the short tailed ones ? I wonder.

Comment

The chassis seems very flimsy on all the Posches. I had one break into several pieces while disassembling a friend's car. I have two short tail cars. On both cars the rear tires rub against the body, and the front wheels on one wobble.

Electric Dreams has a tech article on their web site on how to replace the stock chassis with that of a Fly Porsche 908.

Comment

Olympus5,
I just checked your gallery. My Jules car has what seems to be a much smaller driver body and head than yours. I even posted sometime ago that it seemed "freakishly small". It seems as if it is for a 1/43 than a 1/32 model. Do you, or anyone else, know if a replacement driver is available?.